President of Robert Friedman Presents, Mr. Friedman has been involved in San Francisco theater management and production beginning with a family tradition that dates back to the beginning of this century. His grandmother sang with the San Francisco Opera and his grandfather, Jerry Friedman, was still running the concessions at the San Francisco Opera House until he passed away in 1991 at the age of 98.

While a student, Mr. Friedman was a singer as well as a manager of various contemporary music groups. However, the first concert he ever produced was that of a recorder player from Amsterdam in 1969. Following his graduation from Sonoma State University where he received his degree in psychology and education, he went on to study Indian music at the Ali Akbar Kahn School of Music. From there, he went on to study and work with Anna Halprin doing music for the Trance Dance, and later also worked with the Society for Eastern Art, all the while working with his grandfather house-managing theaters and concessions.

He went on to establish one of the largest concert artist series in the West, presenting San Francisco debuts of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Madrigal Antiqua, the Black Light Theater of Prague, the Jose Limon Dance Company, Barry Tuckwell, the Batsheva Dance Company, and numerous other musical ensembles, theatre and dance companies. In 1973 Mr. Friedman started one of the first early music concert series in the country. In San Francisco he also co-produced the long-running romantic comedy which opened the Theater on the Square, Talley's Folly, as well as Caryl Churchill's biting comedy Cloud Nine, Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, A.R. Gurney's Love Letters and Gareth Armstrong's Shylock.